Rhino poaching goes down in KZN as private ranchers resort to drastic measure

Far from ideal, but necessary.

KwaZulu-Natal has seen a dramatic drop in rhino poaching since game park owners in the province took it upon them to make the majestic beast no use to poachers.

In the last three years, private game reserve owners in KZN have been forced to undertake an intensive dehorning project, to counter the scourge of poaching and, according to a report on TimesLive, this measure has gone some way towards protecting the endangered species.

According to Project Rhino head, Chris Galliers who is quoted by the publication, 5% of incidents of rhino poaching in the province over the last two and a half years occurred in private reserves – down from 25% between 2010 and 2015.

“This is not something we want to do,” he said.

“It is expensive and invasive but we believe it is a ‘necessary evil’ as a temporary measure.”

With poaching highly risky business in its own, rhinos with small stumps, instead of longer horns, are less attractive to the perps, according to Galliers.

However, provincial game reserves in KZN are still battling with the scourge, as they have recorded most of the province’s 222 rhinos poached in 2017. The majority of the rhino population in these reserves has not been dehorned.

According to Ezemvelo spokesperson, Musa Mntambo, his organisation’s focus is on increasing security around the animal and not dehorning them, but they may have to consider resorting to the latter in the future.

“Our view is that a rhino is a rhino because of its horns, and that tourists prefer to see them that way, he said.

In another effort to stifle the illicit trade, private ranchers have also launched a legal market for rhino horn, with the hope that it will squeeze poachers out of business.